President of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines, and Agriculture (ICCIMA) Samad Hassanzadeh has urged the need for Iran and Turkey to focus on joint investments alongside promotion of bilateral trade.
Hassanzadeh made the remarks in a meeting in Tehran on Tuesday with Ali Rıza Güney, a Turkish foreign ministry official in charge of Iran and Iraq affairs.
He referred to the foreign policy of President Masoud Pezeshkian’s administration in reaching out to the world, and said that Iran is seeking to give a boost to its trade relations with all countries, including Turkey, in spite of all the pressures and restrictions caused by sanctions.
Highlighting Iran’s support for foreign investment, the Iran Chamber of Commerce president said that the Turkish investors are now present in Iran’s Azarbaijan region and are well respected by the Iranian government.
He also said that the ground is prepared for Turkish investments in Iran’s petrochemical, oil and food projects, as he believed that the pressure of sanctions will be eased in the near future.
The Turkish official, for his part, said that affected by foreign parameters, the level of trade between Iran and Turkey is far from the ideal point.
He referred to Iran’s rich mining reserves, while noting that the biggest potential of the country is its manpower.
Some 2.5 to 3 million Iranian tourists annually visit Turkey, with some of them buying residential buildings in the country, the official said.
He said that the two countries have to get prepared for the period when the sanctions on Tehran are lifted. The official, however, added that they should diversify transportation corridors and make more use of their neighborliness potentials.